The strong policy focus on struggling students shortchanges the gifted students in Georgia schools
Folks, To quote my colleague Jim Galloway, I have “gone fishing” this week. (I have actually gone hiking.)
I will have no computer access, but am posting some great stuff in advance, including this essay by Gyimah Whitaker, president of the Georgia Association for Gifted Children, and Ann Robinson, president of the National Association for Gifted Children. It runs on the Monday education op-ed page.
I will be back online on the 19th.
By Gyimah Whitaker and Ann Robinson
Children across Georgia are now back to school. For some students, the return to school felt like a burden, a necessary chore they have to slog through every day, but not for the reasons you might expect.
Rather than viewing school as an unhappy departure from carefree summer days, many of the most disinterested students in a classroom are also the high-ability children who spend the bulk of their school days going unchallenged and largely ignored.
Our nation’s education system has a long history of disregarding the needs of gifted and talented students, a neglect that threatens the ability of our state and nation to compete in an increasingly competitive world.
From being regularly outperformed by global counterparts on standardized tests to needing to import a growing number of workers in math and science fields, it is clear decades of neglect are causing the country real harm.
The core problem is that our nation lacks a comprehensive gifted education strategy.
With little to no federal influence and funding, the burden falls to states and local districts. The result is a patchwork of regulations and policies, producing pockets of success few and far between.
Without strong and stable infrastructure, these programs are extremely vulnerable during challenging financial times like this, where educations budgets are being slashed significantly.
Georgia is better than most states at serving gifted students, and yet it still falls short of where it should be.While the state provides some funding to support gifted learners, the reality is that in many corners of the state – particularly systems in poorer and rural areas – these services are bare-bones or nonexistent.
The absence of any focus on gifted students through the Investing in Educational Excellence and within charter schools jeopardizes the protections that are now in place and that have been in the works for the past 50 years.
Despite decades of dire predictions now coming true, our law – and policymakers have been largely apathetic.
The impact of this complacency is visible throughout much of our national education system, which focuses primarily on preventing struggling students from failing by setting proficiency as a primary goal.
While it is vital to ensure that all students are accomplishing baseline concepts and skills, the programs and funding currently available encourage educators and administrators to focus almost exclusively on students who struggle to get by while ignoring those seeking more academic challenge.
The solution to this problem is comprehensive reform that recognizes our nation has an obligation to invest in our most promising students and that our long-term stability and prosperity depends on reigniting this commitment to excellence.
At its core, this solution must begin with an unflinching commitment to identify all students who are gifted regardless of what they look like, how much money their parents earn or whether they live in Hahira or Atlanta.
Educators must cast a wide net for talent and must begin this search at the earliest possible levels to ensure those students who are gifted receive the supports they need from day one.
The solution must recognize the fundamental truth that quality gifted instruction depends on qualified teachers who have received specialized training to meet the unique needs of gifted students.
Very few states, Georgia included, require all teachers to have any training in gifted education. This must change through a combination of revisions to state licensure laws and collaboration with our colleges of education to develop and offer gifted-education focused courses for all of our future teachers.
It is important to note that low-cost and creative answers can be deployed to address parts of the problem.
For example, here in Georgia, current state policy does not permit early entrance into kindergarten, potentially stunting the growth of our youngest minds.
The state can abolish this restriction and align Georgia with most other states by allowing local districts to use tests and other measures to determine if a child is ready for kindergarten.
Similarly, Georgia can amend its policy that requires students to be age 16 or in the 11th grade before they can take college courses for high school credit to permit similar opportunities for younger students.And if our education policymakers and lawmakers are truly interested in excellence, it is essential that they ensure every single IE2 partnership contract and charter include service and supports for our most promising students.
Failure to invest in our gifted learners is a failure to invest in our future.
Let’s hope the start of next school year will be brighter for our most promising students.
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123 comments Add your comment
J.B. STONER
September 11th, 2010
3:55 pm
bk5 ….
How you doing today. My isn’t it a beautiful day.
Former Gifted Teacher
September 11th, 2010
4:07 pm
You can go online to the GADOE and find the requirements for Gifted, and no where will you find the CRCT. It must be a norm-referenced test.
you got that right!
September 11th, 2010
4:09 pm
I am qualified to talk about students on both ends of the spectrum. I am a special ed teacher in a Title I school which did not meet Annual Yearly Progress because students with disabilities did not attain the required pass rate on the graduation tests. These students are required to take the same tests as all other students even if some of them have IQs no higher than 70. We provide before and after school tutoring, remediation periods, parent contact, computer based programs, counseling, rewards, incentives, followup, etc. Some of these students have taken the tests 5 times without passing. My neighborhood has a mixture of very high and very low socio-economic levels. Although I cannot publically say this, many students simply do not value education nor are they motivated to pass the tests. Culturally, education is not valued in all homes. So you have a combination of low ability, low motivation, and lack of emphasis working against these students. But the way our school is judged is on whether or not we meet AYP. So the main focus of our school is on trying to increase the performance of students at the bottom.
On the other hand, I am the parent of 3 gifted children who have graduated from the same high school. All took at least 5 AP courses and scored between 3-5 on all AP tests. One child received a full ride presidential scholarship to an out of state school. The other two are at UGA. So I cannot complain too much about the education they received. But they received the education because they had excellent teachers, they have the ability to do the work, they are motivated, and education is valued. There is no other emphasis at our school on the high achieving, or gifted students other than what the teachers take on to do themselves. At faculty meetings we have NEVER had any professional development on high schieving students but have had numerous ones on differentiated instruction to help low performing students. I cannot remember our administration ever mentioning the needs of high achieving students but we are constantly talking about what to do to help low achieving students. I cannot blame them because we are being judged on the performance of low achieving students. I think our administration tries to support the high students, its just that their efforts can only be spread so far. And there is NO money set aside for gifted/advanced students at all. But we get tons of money for graduation coaches, reading labs with computers, reading coaches, math coaches, one-on-one paraprofessionals, etc to help low achieving and disabled students. And I watch students every day blow their opportunity for success by their lack of motivation. Just yesterday I sent one of my students to a graduation tutoring session and between my classroom and the library she made the decision to get in her car to leave school instead.
The high school counselors have become merely test administrators. They never have time to counsel the college bound students. Parents and students are on their own as far as the college application process. The counselors tell me they would love to work wiht the collge bound students, but they just don’t have the time, and after all, they are not judged on how many students get into good colleges, they are judged on how well they administer the mandated tests.
Mind you I am not saying we shouldn’t help low achieving students and I bust my rear every day to try to help special ed students have success. I just wish we could have 1/10 of hte money and emphasis on the high schieving students.
Hmmmm
September 11th, 2010
4:10 pm
A couple of things:
CRCT is not used as a criteria for entrance into the gifted program……CoGat measures mental ability (IQ)..Students are automatically in the program (with parent approval), if they student scores 96% or above in an area. If the student scores around 90%, then they must meet 2 other criteria….Creativity, Motivation, and Achievement (ITBS)….the scores must also be 90% or above in any of these areas and there must be 3 or 4 areas where that score is met, otherwise, no entrance into program.
And yes, kids can be kicked out of gifted. My son was in 8th grade, not due to grades, but because he had a couple teachers who didn’t like his attitude. He did end up back in gifted classes in high school and took AP classes as well. He graduated in December from Georgia Tech, with honors.
We found that for both my son and daughter that there are many teachers (high school) who think that gifted kids can just teach themselves. Maybe that is what is meant be not leaving these kids behind. Challenge them so that they can achieve even more!
decaturparent
September 11th, 2010
4:21 pm
Angela… with writing like that, you need to be out of the classroom
Angela
September 11th, 2010
4:25 pm
Hey people just for the record if you go back and read my first post I said as a detector NOT the determing factor. I also, wrote there are a battery of test. I might be wrong of what I thought I was ask and told. I will verify my information on Monday or Tuesday when our gifted teacher comes to my school.
People calm down it ani’t that serious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although Miss/Mr who posted that ridiculous statement about DCSS teacher and the county there is a little bit of truth to the fact that all students are gifted in some form. They and we just have not found what they are gifted in even if it is not what we would respect or deem appropriate – just food for thought. (Even theives (I don’t mean petty) can be gifted at what they do – guess how many will never be caught).
Angela
September 11th, 2010
4:28 pm
@decaturparent
September 11th, 2010
4:21 pm
Angela… with writing like that, you need to be out of the classroom
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And, just what are you referring to. I hope that you are a prefect parent as well as writer!
Angela
September 11th, 2010
4:33 pm
@decaturparent,
Oh and by the way I meet each and every criteria that I am evaluated on when I am observed. I guess that is why I still have a position.
Forsyth_Teach
September 11th, 2010
4:42 pm
Regarding J.B. Stoner…what would you expect from someone who is using the name of a racist. From Wikipedia “….Stoner earned a law degree, and served as the attorney for James Earl Ray. The FBI also investigated Stoner in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and for several bombings of black churches, such as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
Stoner ran for governor of Georgia in 1970. During this campaign, where he called himself the “candidate of love”, he described Hitler as “too moderate”, black people as an extension of the ape family, and Jews as “vipers of hell”.
Lefty
September 11th, 2010
4:51 pm
It’s a blog conversation. People often write their thoughts off the top of their head. This is not the place to nitpick grammar or spelling. Decaturparent — do you always speak with perfect placement of parts of speech?
Elizabeth
September 11th, 2010
5:11 pm
Is this surprising? Event before the advent of incessant testing, the brighter but not necessarily gifted students who got it first were expected to help the ones who were struggling instead of being challenged to do more and learn more. Now with thenumbers of studetns and the riciculous idea that every student must have it own individual learnin plan (i.e./ differentiation), it is even worse. It is easy to say that every student should be treated diferenkly but with 30 to 35 students in a class,IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO , much less do well.. So these kids never reach their potentia lbecause there is not enough time in class and not enough hours in the day to make 30 lesson plans and carry them out. Until all classes are 10-15 students, differentiation is a joke. At some point the line has to be drawn on class size for these lovely ideas to work. And that is not going to happen.
Cobb Teacher
September 11th, 2010
5:21 pm
Angela –
You’re embarrassing yourself. Stop while you are ahead. If you still have a position in Dekalb County, be grateful for it. Learn about the various programs your county has to offer students. Learn how students become eligible for those programs. Learn how to best serve students in those programs. Those of us who have QUIETLY worked in this profession for years have done just that. It does not happen overnight, nor do we brag about it on blogs. Now … go study. It may take awhile. Start with the GADOE website that is available to every teacher, parent, and student. The rules for gifted eligibility are clearly outlined. You do not have to wait until Monday. Look it up for yourself. Learn the difference between a norm-referenced and a criterion-referenced test. You should have learned that distinction in college.
Public Teacher
September 11th, 2010
5:23 pm
Most schools have left any gifted education in the dust…. primarily out of concern for making AYP – which means meeting some minimum standard for all kids. So, we focus on the failing students and forget about the gifted learner needs.
So THIS is what the Bush NCLB act was all about?????
Clay
September 11th, 2010
5:31 pm
Your children aren’t gifted. They’re above average. Mozart was gifted.
Angela
September 11th, 2010
5:35 pm
@ Cobb Teacher,
Perhaps you need to go back and read my first blog. I specified in my school and that the CRCT was not a determining factor. Perhaps, you should read a little closer. I don’t need to look into what programs are offered or the criteria. I am most familiar with many and most of them. And, again Miss Know it all. I will as what DCSS uses as a detector for seeking out gifted students. Again, you might not know this but, each county is allowed to set their own criteria for each of the programs they offer. Please read below the operative words are: left to the discretion of local school systems so that they may address the unique needs of their communities.
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Gifted Education
The Georgia Department of Education’s Gifted Program is funded by the State of Georgia. In Georgia, a gifted education student is defined as one who demonstrates a high degree of intellectual and/or creative ability(ies), exhibits an exceptionally high degree of motivation, and/or excels in specific academic fields, and who needs special instruction and/or special ancillary services to achieve at levels commensurate with his or her ability(ies).
The Georgia Gifted Education Resource Manual is a companion document to Georgia Board of Education Rule 160-4-2-.38 EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR GIFTED STUDENTS and the Board-approved Regulations for Gifted Education. The information contained in the manual supplements the rules and regulations and provides assistance to teachers and administrators who provide instructional services to Georgia’s gifted students. Additionally, parents and other interested parties can use the resource manual as a guide to gifted education in Georgia.
Some gifted education decisions and procedures are left to the discretion of local school systems so that they may address the unique needs of their communities. This is especially evident in systems that have been given IE-2 or Charter status by the Georgia Board of Education. Contact your local school and school system for additional information.
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Perhaps you should go on the GDOE web site. HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ElemPal
September 11th, 2010
5:55 pm
“Oh and by the way I meet each and every criteria that I am evaluated on when I am observed. I guess that is why I still have a position”
And this statement may prove that we have some problems with the evaluation programs in our schools. I realize that you are not writing for evaluation on this blog, but I advise teachers every day to remember that everything they do is a reflection on them, our school, and our profession. We certainly don’t need to provide ammunition for the critics. Yes, all of us make mistakes when speaking and writing. The occassional mistake is not the issue. It is the repeated mistakes that cause concern – incorrect word form, missing commas, run-on sentences, comma splices, etc. Please tell me you are not teaching writing!
ElemPal
September 11th, 2010
6:05 pm
Angela, You should consider the advice you have given to Cobb Teacher – read the information carefully.
The decisions that are left to local systems are not the criteria for identification. DCSS is not an IE2 system, and unless your school is a charter school, the GA. Code is very specific about identification of gifted children. The decisions that can be made locally are such things as delivery model and inclusion of high achieving students who are not identified as gifted. A system can make decisions about which test to use, but not what kind of test. There are several acceptable aptitude measures. There are both tests and checklists that can be used for creativity. But the type of measures are very specific in the rule.
The manual is a supplement. It cannot, and does not, excuse a system from following the rules for gifted education.
MB
September 11th, 2010
6:05 pm
The comment about the lack of professional development for the needs of gifted kids is SO valid. Everyone’s supposed to differentiate for the slightly-below to just-above-average learner, and significant emphasis is placed on differentiation for the “struggling learners,” but children in gifted or honors classes are all the same.
There is significant discrepancy in resource allocation for students outside the range of “normal IQ,” i.e. basically 71-129. (Although many in that range will qualify for other special ed services such as specific learning disability, hearing impaired, speech, etc.)
All gifted students with IQs of 130+ (some may have slightly lower IQ if identified through multiple criteria) are funded at weight 1.6681. This is what is earned, however, only for the periods in which they receive gifted services; as noted before, this is often one day per week or one class per day, so they are at regular ed funding weight the other time.
Students with IQs of 55-70 are funded at a weight of 2.8178; those between 25 – 55 have a funding weight of 3.5897. Specific learning disabilities are funded at weights between 2.3954 – 3.5897. Kindergarten at 1.6596 and elementary early intervention program from 1.7982 – 2.0150).
MB
September 11th, 2010
6:07 pm
Kind of supports the assertion that we as a society – decisions by policymakers not stringently questioned by those in the society – value our gifted children much less than all but the average child.
If a child has an IQ of 175? Same funding at 1.6681 – for the time gifted services are received. No problem, right? Sorry, it’s not true. These kids are often as different from “the norm” as those on the other end of the bell curve. Many drop out or underachieve – especially those from disadvantaged populations.
What results do you think might be achieved through equitable funding of these kids? Guess what? Other countries (even some states and city systems in USA) do normed testing, identify the high-ability, high achieving students and allocate resources accordingly. And they have the students winning the Siemens, NSF, etc. awards… (Check out Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology, Stuyvesant HS, AAST, Montgomery Blair, IMSA.)
Funding weights allocation for 2010: http://www.dtae.org/TechEd/HSIniatives/FTE2010.doc
Angela
September 11th, 2010
6:08 pm
Below is the Eligibility for the Gifted Program per the State of Georgia. Perhaps, this will help everyone who has an arguement.
Eligibility Chart
Evaluation Chart – See Georgia Gifted Education Resource Manual for additional information
A student may qualify for gifted education services by meeting the two criteria in Option A or three of the four criteria in Option B. Information shall be gathered in each of the four data categories. At least one of the criteria must be met by a score on a nationally normed standardized test. Any data used in one category to establish a student’s eligibility may not be used in any other category. Grade point averages are based on mathematics, language arts, science, social studies and full year foreign language classes. Assessment data must be current within two years.
Option A Mental Ability Achievement
Kdg – 2nd: 99th percentile on composite or full scale score of a standardized test of mental ability
3rd – 12th: 96th percentile (or higher) on composite or full scale score of a standardized test of mental ability Kdg – 12th: 90th percentile (or higher), by age or grade, on total reading, total math or total battery score of a standardized achievement test
-OR-
A superior rating (numerical score of 90 or better on scale of 1-100) on a student generated product or performance as evaluated by a panel of three or more qualified evaluators
Option B Mental Ability Achievement Creativity Motivation
96th percentile (or higher) by age on a composite or full scale score or appropriate component score of a standardized test of mental ability 90th percentile on total reading, total math or total battery score of a standardized achievement test
-OR-
A superior rating (numerical score of 90 or better on scale of 1-100) on a student generated product or performance as evaluated by a panel of three or more qualified evaluators 90th percentile (or higher) on the total battery of a standardized test of creativity
-OR-
90th percentile (or higher) on a standardized creativity characteristics rating scale
-OR-
superior rating (numerical score of at least 90 on a scale of 1-100) on a structured observation/ evaluation of creative products and/or performance as evaluated by a panel of three or more qualified evaluators 90th percentile (or higher) on a standardized characteristics rating scale (motivational)
-OR-
superior rating (numerical score of at least 90 on scale of 1-100) on a structured observation/ evaluation of student generated products and/or performances as evaluated by a panel of three or more qualified evaluators
-OR-
Grade point average of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, using an average of core grades over the previous two school years
Identification of gifted students shall be nondiscriminatory with respect to race, religion, national origin, sex, disabilities or economic background.
Angela
September 11th, 2010
6:12 pm
@ElemPal,
Thanks for your comments. I have gracefully gone on to the GDOE and posted the criteria.
MB
September 11th, 2010
6:15 pm
As ElemPal notes, the eligibility criteria are standard throughout the state. Identification methods and delivery models may vary by school system, but eligibility is uniform. This even means that students who were in gifted programs in another state are required to meet Georgia’s criteria to qualify for gifted services in a Georgia public school. http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_iap_gifted.aspx?PageReq=EligibilityChart
My mother was a teacher of gifted when her system went through an investigation by OCR of their gifted program. If your system fudges, they could be subject to the same. (Her program was vindicated, but retesting MANY students was not a pleasant experience, even though they knew they were legit.)
Angela
September 11th, 2010
6:22 pm
@MB,
The criteria is posted above. Thanks for your comments as well as ElemPal.
Veteran teacher, 2
September 11th, 2010
6:33 pm
Hate to say this, but the strongest criticisms I have gotten over my long career have been from parents of gifted kids when I challenged them at their level. While a few parents thank me, many griped and complained about the work being “too hard”, or it was “not fair” that their kids were not getting the 100 they would get in regular classes. I am a firm believer in challenging kids at all times. I choose to relish those gifted kids that rise to the challenge and really extend themselves. I ignore the students and parents that feel they are entitled to 99’s because they are gifted.
Angela
September 11th, 2010
6:35 pm
@ElemPal,
I hope that the grammar above meets your approval because I long for it. Also, as for a reflection on the school and school system you are correct. Therefore, you should make sure that you do not do or say anything that would make you look bad. That is if we ever find out who you really are.
Attentive Parent
September 11th, 2010
6:51 pm
The Option A in the above post is better known as Procedure 2 and it’s the old standard that is still on the books. Not all schools or districts are forthcoming in acknowledging there is a standard beyond the multiple criteria rule.
Procedure 2/Option A can be especially useful for very strong kids who are transferring from private school or from out of state as it eliminates the it will take time to get all the criteria problem that can have really bright kids wondering if they should offer to teach the course.
One more option for a nationally normed mental ability test could be the SSAT if parents are trying to decide public vs private. It would be particularly hard to get to the 96th percentile but if you can get there it’s nationally normed and “aptitude” is considered anonymous with mental ability as long as it’s a composite score and not just one area.
Attentive Parent
September 11th, 2010
6:54 pm
“synonymous”.
Long day.
another comment
September 11th, 2010
7:02 pm
My oldest daughter who scored in the above 92% on the ITBS never made into the Cobb Target program, because of the Creativy criterion they used at the school. Yet they would not tell us. The teachers she had could never figure it out and begged the gifted teacher to take her. Finally, right before I pulled her out for Catholic school, the Target teacher told me it was a Creative writing piece and my daughter didn’t write enough. My daughter told me they didn’t explain that is what it was, she answered the questioned and that was it. This is the same child, whose story was submitted by the school as the winner for a Cobb writting contest submittal for the school.
Ironically her friends that made it into Target once they transfered into the elite private schools of Atlanta could only muster C’s or D’s, While my Daughter was a A -B student in Private School in 5-8th grade.
All I could see was lots of heart break and not a real determinate of who was smarter or had more potential.
Angela
September 11th, 2010
7:14 pm
@MB,
Perhaps, we are all wrong according to Attentive Parent.
@ElemPal,
Attentive Parent made an error in the Options A verse B. She mistakenly (I think) commented on A again instead of B. Errors, grammar, and other parts of the ELA subject area are not a criteria to post on this blog or any other blog.
Michael
September 11th, 2010
7:15 pm
I guess I must be blessed. As a 19 year teacher, I have been teaching gifted students for the past five years at a wonderful school in the Gwinnett County school System. My students are truly gifted and almost exclusively push themselves and most frequently go farther than I could ever expect in what I have assigned to them. They are truly a difficult group to teach, not because of their behavior, but because of their intellect and drive. I learn from “them” every day. I feel quite fortunate to be in a county that stands strongly behind the gifted education program. These students are the ones who will be the movers and shakers of the next generation to lead this country. We cannot ignore their need for special attention. We also, as a state, must realize that students in the “middle” should not be ignored while we work on opposite ends of educational ability. All our students deserve more than a system that is totally focused on the bottom.
On another note, I have found gifted students’ parents to be totally supportive of the innovative approach to education I incorporate into my classroom. They know their children are a challenge and appreciate anyone who goes out of their way to ensure individualized encouragement and stretching of their children.
DeKalb Parent
September 11th, 2010
7:36 pm
If “teaching to the test” does not teach what kids need to learn, then the test needs to be changed. Georgia usually ranks between 12th and 15th in the nation in the SAT level required to be a National Merit Scholar – I think that means we do a better job than the majority of states. For the ACT, our whites are above the white average, our blacks are above the black average, and our Hispanics are above the Hispanic average. I don’t like the rearranged math because it is different from the national standards and I wish that we used standard tests instead of Georgia tests for our measurements.
MB
September 11th, 2010
7:40 pm
Michael, I am sure your students (and their parents) are very happy to have you as their teacher. You exemplify what a gifted teacher should be, striving to find ways to challenge students to stretch their minds and maximize their abilities. Fortunately, most of the teachers of gifted I’ve dealt with have had similar characteristics, to some degree.
However, be aware that some teachers (and I’ll bet you know a few of these) decide to get gifted certification because, to some degree, they believe that the gifted students are easier to teach. Such teachers are a source of much unnecessary stress to gifted students, as they tend to: a) think that the students should be able to “get it on their own” (including reading the teacher’s mind to see what s/he wants in an assignment); b) think that giving gifted students “more work” constitutes challenging them, and/or c: failing to assess/deal with the behavior issues that arise when you give these students more busy work and little or no direction. Fortunately, they usually realize that teaching gifted is actually harder, in many ways, and go back to what they were doign. (Hopefully, they retain some of their strategies to use in the regular classroom, anyway.)
Please continue to do the hard work “doing gifted right” entails. As you noted, you are encouraging a bright future for these students by teaching them what they need to know – how to think critically, to problem solve, and to create. Teachers like you will move our kids beyond the CRCT and we thank you!
Prepared, Not Gifted
September 11th, 2010
7:47 pm
There are many great points on this blog about Gifted students being overlooked and I couldn’t agree more. However, here’s a different, but related issue. Here goes… Mom and Dad both work 9-5 jobs so they seek out daycare options for their kids who are too young for kindergarten. They find a great preK program at a Christian school (for example)that starts educating students at 2yrs of age. By middle of their pk3 year, they know all sounds, can recognize and write all letters of the alphabet including their name and basic words, counting etc… In Pk4, they get thru blends, number sense, addition, subtraction, improved writing skills, and are reading fluently books that are about 1st grade level etc… Mind you this education costs the same as typical daycare at Mom and Pop daycare, and oftentimes less than the Primrose and Goddards of the world.
Why is it that when these students enroll in a public school kindergarten program, they go back to covering content the child started learning as a 3yr old!!! Why is it that the public school has no place for that child. Or to be fair, if you are a pushy parent, the principal may tell you that there’s a way to skip your child to 1st grade, however they don’t recommend it due to socialization concerns (which I agree are legitimate). Can someone please tell me why there isn’t a simple common sense answer where public schools create a “track” (and I know that’s a bad word in some circles) for these students that enter kindergarten who are well ahead of the basics of being “ready to learn”. This “track” could simply take that group of prepared, NOT GIFTED, kids and teach them the 1st grad curriculum in Kindergarten, and then 2nd grade curriculum in 1st, and so-on? By the time they get to middle school, these would likely just be the kids that make up the bulk of student taking advanced math, science, etc???
Unless I am missing something, this should not cost anything extra or require any specialized teacher training. Just get the 1st grade teacher to teach kindergarten and so-on. There would be a little effort to accommodate these tracked kids in 5th grade but not one that is insurmountable. If there is anyone on this blog that can speak to this or explain why this common sense solution isn’t used in public schools, please do so. Personally, I’ve seen the parents of numerous kids who go through this experience in public school kindergarten classes. They typically find themselves at odds with their child’s teacher and school principal, and those with the means end up seeking private school option by October of Kindergarten year.
There’s lots of agreement around the need to make PreK education accessible to all/more children so more start school ready to learn. Assuming the PreK instruction is of a high quality, the current curricular standards for kindergarten in GA would simply create more frustrated parents and bored children who will begin to seek out educational alternatives outside the traditional public schools — not that I have an issue with that, but why is this so difficult?!?!
Why teach when I'm buried & burdened by pre/post tests, paperwork & deadlines....About half of Dekalb teachers don't care, the others half are stuck with them....spineless teachers, venting/whining but taking the punishment.....bending over, takin
September 11th, 2010
7:51 pm
Many of these helicopter parents have no clue of what it is to be a “gifted/magnet/high achiever” child. Even at the high school level, they still believe whatever their children tell them. They have no clue whatsoever mindset of a teenager. Because s/he is “bored”, they believe their child is “gifted” and not being challenged. That’s where the problem lies, crazy helicopter parents with blinders on. Additionally, gifted programs are great, but who’s looking at the numbers. A good portion of the gifted students, especially boys, fail out of the program by middle school and early high school. My children graduated from Dekalb’s gifted program, academic sholarships to top tier colleges. We reside in the south side, but our children started about ten years ago in the north side and finished up the program. The Magnet/Gifted students moved like a cohort through the system. My children would often speak of these same gifted students who were on probation, and/or who failed out. Many were boys. It’s also a numbers game,in order for the school to keep the students, they would simply assigned the students to accelerated or regular classes. What are the parent to say now? Still gifted? They will fight for their child to be pladed in elementary magnet, but as soon as reality and puberty sets in about middle school, it’s a different story, these same parents start to fade. Many barely made it to graduation. Again, these parents, especially in elementary, do not understand the educational process. Their children tell them how “bored” they are, and they believe their child is not being challenged. Many of these “gifted” students cannot sit to read/work/write independently. Reminder, that is expected for the SAT and for college level work. My children would also tell me of the cheating. Many Magnet/Gifted students cheat, sharing answers, using the textbooks, and teachers are powerless. They let them cheat, because a disciplinary write up is pointless. Well, the results will show in college. Gifted/Magnet/High Achiever Programis great, but it only serves a small portion of high schoolers who manage to keep above probation and failure.
buried & burdened by pre/post tests, paperwork & deadlines....About half of Dklab teachers don't care, other half are stuck with..spineless teachers, venting/whining & taking punishment.....bending over, "please sir may I have another" quote o
September 11th, 2010
8:03 pm
taking the licks, please sir may I have another….quoting Ole Guy
MB
September 11th, 2010
8:05 pm
Prepared: Fulton County has had a system to address this, although not comprehensively (or even consistently among schools) for years – it was called continuous achievement when my children were in elementary school. The system had teachers (or parents) refer students for testing, usually an end-of-unit test for a semester, then the students would be placed at their level of challenge.
This is where reality and theory would often conflict, because some schools only tested one semester ahead, others two semesters, others one to two years. (Apparently, this policy was set at a principal’s discretion – one of those local school control issues.)
Some children did eventually get up to three years ahead, typically in math or language arts. This avoided the social-emotional conflict of skipping a grade by placing the student in a specific subject at their academic level. Fulton even provided transportation, if necessary, to a school at the next level when the student exceeded the capability of the school to teach the subject. (Middle schooler going to high school for math.)
Fulton, in fact, took math out of the “four-serve” model for gifted and used the mixed model for math for a number of years before the new math. Exactly as you note, students might not be identified as gifted, often missing by a couple of points, but they were obviously qualified to continue on the advanced math track. I believe there have been a few issues with the new math in acceleration, but hopefully that will shake out again.
Prepared, Not Gifted
September 11th, 2010
8:10 pm
MB – Thank you very much. Would you happen to know which schools, or any school in Fulton that currently does this? I would move for such a program if that is what is required.
J.B. STONER
September 11th, 2010
8:49 pm
Forsyth-Teach………….
Flattery will get you no where with me…..
I appreciate you taking the time to research my humble political history.
Yeah, me and ol MLK had a few parties in our day and me and Hosea Williams popped a few tops together.
But reality is reality….
This country has been taken over by a heathen government that has a mission of destroying the constitution as we once new it.Stay on the bus(no pun intended) or get your arse off and stand up to socialism.
The choice is yours. I’m tired of it, SICK AND TIRED OFF IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deborah
September 11th, 2010
9:10 pm
We chose to homeschool our daughter because of the sad way schools are run today. She is now in her senior year of college. We are paying so much more per pupil than years ago and getting less and less for it. NEA must go before the teachers and the students get a decent school experience. All teachers get now is pressure to get scores (hence more fed funding) and so many of the best leave because of the “system”. Kids get to be bored to tears. NEA must go. It has been broken for so long. Must start over. Vouchers so parents can pay their tax dollars to the best schools. Not just Michelle and Barack who can afford private schools while telling us our babies have to make do. Disgusting!
MB
September 11th, 2010
9:13 pm
Prepared, I live north of the river; all of our Fulton schools should offer continuous achievement. I’d suggest that you visit some schools, ask the principal to observe a classroom and then ask how many students are working above level, and how they address this. (Also, you might want to ask about homework policy; some schools/teachers think giving hours of homework is a badge of honor. More busy work does not equal more learning. Homework that is meaningful is what is important – not volume!)
(It’s generally better to have students working ahead grouped together rather than just have the second graders doing third grade math sent to a third grade on-level class. The pacing is different.)
You also probably want to assess the middle and high schools in the cluster. Although I live north of the river, there are some good elementary schools in Sandy Springs, if you live ITP now. The Riverwood cluster in particular has had dramatic improvements recently, and they have an IB program if you are interested in that. (Some of my neighbors’ kids commute for the IB program.)
Good luck!
Fed Up
September 11th, 2010
9:49 pm
Children should be taught at their appropriate levels. Gifted kids who are held back/not challenged are just as much of a problem as struggling kids who are socially promoted. Why is September 1 — a random date on the calendar — the ultimate criteria for the level at which a child is placed?
I have a child who was born at 6pm on Aug 31… Would 6 hours difference change him from the slowest kid in the class to the smartest kid in the class!?
zoe
September 11th, 2010
9:54 pm
I have the gifted endorsement, I teach gifted/ high achiever high school students in AP. Our school uses both honors and AP to serve our gifted kids and I know they get the shaft. Because of that, I’ve made it my mission to make sure they don’t miss opportunities. My students participate in a variety of extra curricular activities that bring them in contact with students from all over the state. Since they are big fish in a little pond at my school, I want them to see they need to work harder to compete on another level. I have one student that is working on applying to Harvard her senior year. We’ve been discussing this since the beginning of last school year, when she was a sophomore. For most of these high achiever/gifted kids, the best parents can hope for is that there is at least one teacher that knows what is needed for these kids to do better than just applying to the community college around the corner. I’ve written recommendations and worked with students successfully applying to the Governor’s Honors Program and for a Gates Millennium Scholarship.
As long as NCLB focuses on the bottom, the top will be ignored. I quote Dash from “The Incredibles” If everyone is special, then no one is. Until someone wakes up and realizes that not everyone is cut out to be a scholar, we’ll keep having this argument. How come we aren’t trying to force all our kids to be professional basketball players? Why is it acceptable that we can acknowledge that everyone isn’t an athlete, but we can’t acknowledge that everyone isn’t into school?
Burroughston Broch
September 11th, 2010
9:56 pm
In this time of limited funds, we have our priorities out of order. Looking at our taxes as an investment in our children, we will get a higher return on our investment by spending more of it on the gifted students and less on the academically challenged and special education children. Unfortunately, our priorities are completely the opposite. The special education students, particularly those profoundly disabled yet mainstreamed in the schools, require an inordinate amount of staff attention and disrupt the other students.
We should admit that the schools are not like Lake Woebegone, where all of the children are above average.
High School Math Teacher
September 11th, 2010
10:16 pm
Gifted students need more focus… You can be gifted in something and really benefit this country. I’m sorry to say but special education is ruining this country. It takes all of our money/efforts and does VERY LITTLE good.
Good for Kids
September 11th, 2010
10:45 pm
Prepared,
My kids are currently experiencing continuous achievement in Fulton in ways similar to what MB described. We live in Alpharetta. I think the schools in this area “do it” (continuous achievement) in their own unique way but it is common up here for kids as young as even first grade to switch for math. It is definitely done grades 2-5 and occurs to some extent with language arts at our school. I do know of cases where, for example, a fifth grader travels over to the middle school for math b/c he is working at seventh grade level. More commonly, the kids are ability grouped within their grade (as MB mentioned) rather than going up to the grade above to receive instruction. So, say there are five third grade classrooms, and based on testing, it appears that there are about 50 kids who are on level, 50 kids who are advanced (still on grade level but higher) and 25 kids who can work at the grade above. When it is time for math, the kids switch so that two teachers teach “on”, two teachers teach “advanced”, and one third grade teacher teaches fourth grade math to the third graders who are achieving at that level. The dilemma is providing opportunities to work at their level but not have everyone switching classes all the time. Another issue is that if a child really needs to work a few grade levels above, the scheduling can be crazy (due to lunch, going to specials, etc.) Overall, I think it is a better model than I expected The younger they are, the less I like it except in the case of truly highly gifted and/or highly prepared kids.
I will say I think it is harder now that class sizes have increased. Before, you might have only had 17 kids in the above level class, but the other teachers took in just a few extra kids in at math time while still staying low on class size. So, maybe the rest of them had 22 for math. Now, if they are already max-ing out their classrooms, it is hard to balance the classes.
I could go on about the pros and cons, but overall, I would say my kids do learn more as a result of ability grouping. Hope this helps.
MB
September 11th, 2010
10:50 pm
Absolutely agree that if we have the funds to pour into special ed we should allocate for gifted at the same level. To see graphically how we’re funding special ed, access this document from Fulton County on the average FTE (full-time equivalent) cost of educating a special ed student in Fulton County in FY10. https://portal.fultonschools.org/departments/Financial_Services/Budget_Services/Documents/02-26-10%20School%20Board%20Retreat/FCSSSpecialEdCostperFTE-InitialFY10.pdf
Of the $30,323 per FTE average per SpEd student, only $7,574 comes from the Feds, who mandate most of these SpEd services. The state covers $4,125, leaving the taxpayers of Georgia to pay $18,624, on average, per SpEd student. (In contrast, it seems a non-SpEd, non-ESOL student costs $8,704 per FTE.) https://portal.fultonschools.org/departments/Financial_Services/Budget_Services/Documents/02-26-10%20School%20Board%20Retreat/FCSSPerPupilnonSPEd_ESOLFY10.pdf
So what do we do to get this message to our elected officials who’re making these decisions? (Individual communication isn’t working…)
Remember, this covers from those who need speech therapy to team-taught classes to profound MI and EBD. With some receiving fewer services, imagine how much we’re really spending on those students on the lower 0.5% and what might happen if we spent, as someone noted above 10% of that on the 0.5% (gifted) kids at the right side of the bell curve.
(I am not advocating abandoning these children, obviously, but it does seem skewed relative investments…)
High School Math Teacher
September 11th, 2010
10:55 pm
Good post MB
northatlantateacher
September 11th, 2010
10:55 pm
@High School Math Teacher: Sadly I have to agree about Special Education. I’ve been teaching 9 years, and have team taught 4 of those. I can count on one hand the number of special ed students who really benefited from the program. The rest either needed to be in resource due to low, low IQ/low skills, were incredibly disruptive due to ADHD/a variety of other behavior problems, or just didn’t care. I’ve worked with ONE special ed inclusion teacher who was good. The rest were terrible and class actually went better if they were not in the room. Many of them have been coaches that needed a job somewhere in the school, and viola! there they are on the first day.
I watched so many of these kids and their parents completely waste the enormous amount of resources we provided. And for what? To say we did? The vast majority of special ed kids aren’t going to college, while so many of the kids who are above-average-but-not-”gifted” have to sit in those classes, learning nothing while the two teachers in the room deal with the same 4 students. Over and over. It’s such a shame. I don’t know what the answer is, but it sure isn’t the current way.
ElemPal
September 11th, 2010
10:58 pm
@Angela – sarcasm doesn’t support your argument any better than poorly written posts. I agree that perfect grammar and mechanics are not necessary to post on this or any blog, but when anyone makes comments that are laden with errors, it detracts from the message – and often the credibility of the author.
FYI: Where you posted the criteria for identification, you mistakenly used “or” in several places where the criteria is actually “and.” For Option A, a student must have a qualifying score in aptitude AND achievement. For Option B, a student must have a qualifying score in 3 of the 4 areas. Each of those areas has an option other than a standardized test measure, but the optional measures cannot be used on all four areas.
Now, back to the topic:
As an elementary principal in a school with a high poverty ranking, my allotted funding certainly supports the idea that the gifted/high achieving students are not the priority. However, if we want to continue to make progress in the area of student achievement, we have to push our higher achieving students to exceed as much as we push our struggling students to meet the standards. Our school is blessed with an amazing teacher for the gifted students, as well as a faculty that understands what it means to address the needs of our students. We are able to move children to the appropriate level of instruction by crossing grade levels for reading and math. We give higher achieving students additional instruction in Science and Social Studies. We involve every teacher in the building in offering not only remedial programs, but in offering interest-based enrichment programs both during and after school. We are far from where we want to be, but we are making moves in the right direction.
Attentive Parent
September 12th, 2010
3:29 am
Elem Pal picked it up but I did not make a mistake. Option A is synonymous with what Fulton and Cobb and probably others call Procedure 2.
On the Continuous Achievement in math and the Riverwood cluster, Heards Ferry has kids traveling to Ridgeview for their math and that has apparently been going on for years.
I believe that continuous achievement in math is something the Fulton School Board felt very strongly about protecting even after the state transitioned to the new math. It’s also why Fulton high schools were able historically to get more students than elsewhere beyond AP Calc in high school.